Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithviraj
Chauhan (Hindi: धरती का वीर योद्धा पृथ्विराज चौहान)
is a television programme aired on Indian
television channel STAR
Plus that was launched by Sagar Arts who have
earlier started the television series Ramayan, Mahabharat and Hatim. This Hindi TV serial shows the story of one of the
most famous Hindu kings of medieval Indian history: Prithviraj
Chauhan, his early life, his exploits, his love for princess
Sanyogita. Much of these comes from the Early Hindi/Apabhramsha
epic of poet Chandabardayi called Prithviraj Raso, but the
producers have taken huge liberties to add romance to the show.
This captivating saga ended on March 15, 2009 with a sad
ending.

Plot

Prithviraj Chauhan, the last ruler of Chauhan dynasty to sit on
the throne of Delhi, was born in 1165 as the son of Someshwar
Chauhan, the king of Ajmer. He was a brilliant child and very sharp
at learning the military skills. He had the skill of hitting the
target only on the basis of its sound. He succeeded to the throne
of Ajmer at the age of thirteen, in 1178, when his father died in a
battle. His mother's father Anangpal, ruler of Delhi, declared him
heir to the throne of Delhi after hearing about his courage and
bravery. He once killed a lion on his own without any weapon. He
was known as the warrior king. When he ascended to the throne of
Delhi, he built Qila Rai Pithora here. His whole life was a
continuous chain of bravery, courage, chivalrous deeds and glorious
exploits. He defeated the mighty Bheemdev, ruler of Gujarat, at the
mere age of thirteen.

His love story with his enemy, Jaichand's daughter, Sanyogita is
very famous. He rode off with her on the day of her
'Swayamwara'.

He expanded his empire, during this time Mohammad Ghori attacked
India in 1191 and he was defeated at the first battle of Tarain.
The following year, in 1192, the Ghori army returned to challenge
Prithviraj at the Second Battle
of Tarain. Sultan Muhammad Shahab-Ud-Din Ghori
proceeded towards India with a
large force numbering 120,000. When he reached Lahore, he sent his envoy to Prithviraj Chauhan to demand his
submission, but Prithviraj
Chauhan refused to comply. Prithviraj Chauhan then issued a
fervent appeal to his fellow Rajput chiefs to come to his aid against the
Muslim invader. About 150 Rajput chiefs responded to his call.

Prithviraj too came up with a large army, a huge portion of
which consisted of Indianwarelephants, and proceeded
with it to meet Sultan Muhammad Shahab-Ud-Din Ghori in
Tarain
where a year before he had inflicted a crushing defeat on his
adversary, confident of defeating Ghori again. Sultan Muhammad
Ghori delivered an ultimatum to Pritviraj that he convert to Islam
or be defeated. Pritiviraj countered with an offer that Muhammad
consider a truce, be allowed to retreat with his army. Sultan Muhammad
Shahab-Ud-Din Ghori decided to attack.

Ghori divided his troops into five parts and attacked the Rajput
armies in the early morning hours sending waves of mounted archers
to attack the Rajput forces, but retreating as the Rajput elephant
phalanx advanced.

Taking advantage of the Rajput tradition of not fighting after
dusk he attacked the rajput army and defeated them. What happens
after this is clear from the local folk songs still prominent in
Rajasthan. It is said that PrithviRaj was taken to Afghanistan
along with his raj-kavi cum friend, Chandbhar. In Ghori's court,
Prithviraj and Chandbhar were brought in shackles. PrithviRaj was
asked to show the art of archery, wherein he could aim and shoot
just by hearing the sound. It is also known as Shabdbhedi-baan.
Ghori asked him to show him this art. To make game interesting for
himself, he got his eyes pierced with hot iron rods. Chandbhar
says, "A king, though as a prisoner, can receive command only from
a king. So it would be an honour if you command Him to shoot". Then
he says few verses or poetry, few of those lines were,"Char baans
chobis guz, aangal asht pravan, maar maar mote to chook na
Chauhan". Chaar baans meant four bamboos stick, chaubis guz as
approximately 24 yards, aangal asht praval meant eight fingers
width. All this combined gave thew exact location of Ghori sitting
on his throne i.e. 4 bamboos stick high, 24 yards away and exactly
eight fingers up was the Ghori sitting. "Go ahead O Chauhan and
don't miss the aim". This is how PrithviRaj kills Ghori in his
court and obviously to meet his own death.[1]

Aftermath

Rajput kingdoms like Saraswati, Samana, Kohram and Hansi were captured by Ghori without any
difficulty and he marched onwards unchallenged towards Ajmer. The defeated Prithviraj was
pursued up to his capital where he was taken as a captive, back to
Afghanistan. Sultan Muhammad Ghori spared the son of Prithviraj
Chauhan, Kola, who in turn took the oath of loyalty to Ghori.

As a prisoner in Ghor, Prithviraj was brought in chains before
Sultan Muhammad Ghori. Ghori ordered Prithviraj Chauhan to keep his
eyes down but Prithviraj refuses to that and said "true rajput only
keep his eyes down when he is dead after listening that Ghori
burned with anger and ordered his man to blind Prithviraj with red
hot iron rods. After some time Ghori arranged a archery competition
then Chandra Bardiee who already joined his kingdom as a poet told
Ghori that Prithviraj is a so called archer that he can aim on
sound Ghori refused to believe that then he ordered his mans to
bring Prithviraj to the competition but Chandra Bardiee told Ghori
that he will shoot the target when Ghori ordered Ghori wondered why
on my call only then Chandra Bardiee answered that he was aking and
like to take order from king not with his courtiers it will satisfy
his ego. actually that was the strategy to kill Ghori which Chand
and Prithvi discussed already and they also decided to stab each
other after killing Ghori. Next Prithviraj Chauhan bought to the
competition arena. Chand was already there and gave further
assistance to shoot Ghori in form of dhoha which was only
understandable by Prithviraj chauhan "chaar haath chaubis ghaz
Angul Hansth Pramman, ta uppar sultan hai ab mat chooke chauhan" as
soon as Ghori ordered Pithvi to shoot he stretched his kamaan up to
his ears and shot Ghori right in his throat. Ghori died on the
spot. Prithviraj shout i had taken my insult's revenge and then
Chand stabbed Prithvi and Prithvi stabbed Chand so that they will
not be captured by the enemy again and died a heroic death. As
Sanyogita feels that Prithviraj is dying, she also dies and we all
remember all the lovely cast especially Prithviraj and
Sanyogita.